Rensselaer Republican, Volume 14, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 October 1881 — A CRAZE FOR DIAMONDS. [ARTICLE]

A CRAZE FOR DIAMONDS.

The Favorite Gem of American Women.—Large Purchases of Diamonds for the American Market Method of Cutting the Stones. N. Y. Tribune. The passion for diamonds is increasing. Frobably at no previous time in the history of the American world of fashion were so many of these precious stones worn as now, or so large a proportion of them of such excellent quality. Here and there the popular taste may select the fanciful gem—the tourmaliue or zircon—but the Are glauciug from the facets of a diamond has a charm for the multitude not possessed by any other gem. Most of the diamonds come from the Cape of

Q xxi Hope, a few from Brazil, and some from Siberia and Borneo. The discovery of the African diamonds six or seven years ago upset the market, but it has since recovered its equilibrium. Merchants in this city claim that imitation diamonds have nqt materially injured their business. Such stones' depend upon the glare of gaslight to avoid detection, as sunlight readily exposes their real character. The demand for fine stones is increasing and for stones finer cut than it is {generally possible to obtain in Europe. Many diamonds are brought to America not cut in prismatic proportion and

have to be cut over by American workmen to bring out their real beauty. A diamond has thirty-six facets on top and twenty-six facets below. If the distance from the “table” to the "color” is more than one-third of the stone its “life” is lost and it should be recut. The bottom of a good diamond tapers almost to a point in the cutting, which is finally taken off. Of all the diamonds? the white translucent stone that is free from flaw and perfectly cut s the most valuable. Pink diamonds are rare, but brig.it yellow, brownand jet black diamonds may be easily found in the market. While a dull tint injures a white diamond, a marked color of red or green adds considerably to its value. Nine-tenths of the blue diamonds are milky, while all the fine white stones have just a suggestion of blue in their composition. Diamonds cost more than they did ten years ago. A perfect brilliant of the first water is worth about SSO; onehaif carat, $175; one carat, $500; two carats, SBOO. Diamonds of a larger size bring whatever may be obtained from the purchaser, as no fixed price can be stated. As a diamond loses nine twentieths of its weight in cutting,tbe value of a rough diamond may be calculated per carat as one-half the estimate mentioned. Diamonds imperfect or thin, are usually reduced to powder or utilized in tools for drilling Eurposes. Three carrat stones often ring S9OO. ‘*l have frequently prid S3OO a carat for something fine,” said a diamond merchant to a'Tribuue reporter. “Diamonds arc like horses, there’s no market value lor them. No dealer ever sold a good gem cheap. In war times you might pick up a diamond a trifle cheaper than now, but to-day if you want a good diamond you must pay a good price for it. You may buy a onecarat diamond for SIOO, but it will be nothing extra, no gem.” “Are there more diamonds worn now than ever before in this country?” “I should say so. most decidedly. I have been in the business over thirty years, and I never knew such a rage for the stone as exists to day. Last week I attended a garden party at the Grand Union Hotel at Saratoga, and I saw bushels of them. This is the only way to describe the number of valuable diamonds worn there, and most of them were fine stones. Nearly every womau there had big soltaires in rings of earrings. You see the finest diamonds are worn soltaire iu studs, rings, and earrings, while for bracelets and hairpius ail inferior stone may be used, as they are not so conspicuous. I noticed ouo thing, however, at the Grand Union, nine-tenths of the diamonds were not clean. Dust settles on everything and it is astonishing how little care a womau will give to her diamonds. They carefully inspect their gloves and shoes befere completing their toilets, but their diamonds, worth often thousands of dollars, receive no attention, become dirty and sometimes are lost. A lady customer of mine lost a very valuable diamond after possessing it tight years. If she had been iu the habit of giving the gem any attention she would have not ticcd that a setting of eighteen- caragold will wear out in time and lose its grip on the stone. The large solitaire diamond is now preferred to the cluster. Few diamonds are woruJhy gentlemen except in the case of young men anxious for display. Here aud there a gentleman will wear soltaires on his shirt bosom, but if he has good taste he will bo , careful that they are quite small, or he may be taken lor a gambler. It is astonishing ho wjmuch money is represent ed in the diamonds worn by the ladies on a ‘swell’ occassion. It is a common thing in New York society to see $lO,000 or $20,000 in diamonds on a lady’s person. Mrs. John Jacob jias btffiu known to wear $60,000 worth of diamonds at aq evening reception, find I should say that’the’diamonus worn by Mrs. W. H. Vauderbilt at the garden

party I spoke of were fully worth that amount of money.' Mrs. Mackay wife of the ‘Bonanza King,’ ohee offered to buy the famous ‘Regent’ diamond, the most valuable in the world. It )s valued at a mere million, but the French Government wouldn’t sell it.”; i “A bandy thing to pawn when you stiike hard-pan,” suggested the reporter. “Not at all. You couldn’t find a dealer in the city who would advance a dollar on it. Everyone would knpw it and know it belonged to the Crown of France. Besides, the diamond is too big to sell—what could you do with.it? Certainly not wear it. When a diamond is over five or six carats in: size it is not saleable. Halnhen, the famous diamond cutter of Paris, has had iu his possession the ‘South Star’ diamond, 126 carats, for thirty years and has not been able to find a purchaser for it although his price is only $75,000. It is very hard to get rid of these extraordinary stones. An importer; in John street has had two stones, each twenty carats, in the market for years and has been unable to sell them, and I don’t believe he will ever be able to dispose of them. Isaac Herman of this city, did cut a forty carat diamond, the largest, I believe, ever cut in New York. It was a good job, but the stone was not white and was most likely

worn by a gambler.” “Here,” displaying a case of flashing gems, “ere solitare earrings, two carats, and worth $1,200. They are* large enough to produce a striking' effect, and when you get much larger diamonds they look clumsy.” "How are diamonds prepared for the market?” “Well, they are found, as you know, in alluvial deposits and are extracted by washing. They are cat by cleaving the stones. Then two of them are rubbed together until they receive a a shape in the rough. The next step is to finish them carefully by grinding on a revolving disk fashioned for soft steel which is covered with oil and diamond dust. Most diamonds'are cut iu the shape of brilliants and some in the form of a rose having a flat bottom and an upper surface of tiny facet* and ending in a point.”